Mangaluru: In a rather sad turn of events, the brave cow who was rescued from illegal cow traffickers, passed away on the morning of August 7, just 10 days after giving birth to a male calf.
Radha, a roughly 10-year-old cow, was rescued by volunteers at the Animal Care Trust around three months ago. She was evidently attacked by illegal cow traffickers who chopped off both her front hooves in a bid to make her capture easier. Tauseef Ahmed, the rescue in-charge with Animal Care Trust (ACT), told NewsKarnataka that Radha was found by the locals at the bottom of a cliff with her front legs mutilated. “She must have rolled off the cliff in an attempt to get away. The locals found her and called us immediately. She had lost a lot of blood by then,” he explained.
She was taken to the trust’s shelter in Shakthinagar, where she was treated by Dr Yashaswi, the shelter’s on duty doctor. As her wounds were terribly infected, the doctor was forced to amputate her front legs up to the knees in order to prevent the spread of the infection.
“She was very brave and seemed determined to live. She would walk about on whatever was remaining of her front legs. She was recovering very well. Her treatment was a gruelling process as her wounds had to be regularly dressed,” Tauseef said.
However, unbeknownst to the rescuers, Radha was six months pregnant at the time of her rescue, a fact they found out later. Just 10 days ago, on a beautiful Sunday morning, Radha gave birth to a healthy male calf, whom the volunteers at ACT named Bheem.
“Maybe she was fighting to stay alive so that she could give life to her son? I don’t know about that but, she was a very brave cow. She fought to stay alive,” Tauseef fondly said of Radha.
“A cow’s gestation period is the same as us humans. Their pregnancy lasts for nine months,” Tauseef explained.
Unfortunately, Radha’s health turned for the worse soon after the birth of her son. “The calf had to be bottle fed from day one as the mother did not have any milk. The mother’s health continued to deteriorate and she passed away yesterday morning,” he said.
When asked about the calf’s situation, Tauseef said that ever since the mother died, the calf has been anxious and has been following everyone around. “He has lost his mother at a very young age. Naturally, he will not know what is going on as he was always with his mother,” he explained.
Speaking about the rampant illegal cow trafficking, Tauseef said, “There is a mafia that runs successfully. It is worth crores of rupees. Everyone knows about it but they are not willing to speak about it. Anyone who raises a voice against them is threatened and made to stay quiet.”
He explained that in order to capture these animals, the traffickers cut the legs of the cows with machetes and swords as they are not easy to capture. Many animals suffer and die because of this. There should be at least some dignity shown to the animals even if they are meant for slaughter, he said.
